scholarly journals Political satire and the counter-framing of public sector IT project escalation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jocelyn Cranefield ◽  
G Oliver ◽  
J Pries-Heje

© 2018 by the Association for Information Systems. Despite significant research into why IT projects fail, the frequency and impact of failure remains high. Attention has shifted to understanding and guiding de-escalation (i.e., reversing failure). This major turnaround process initially benefits from negative feedback on the status quo and requires an organization to break its established frames and re-establish its legitimacy with stakeholders (Pan & Pan, 2011). We consider the role of satire as a lens to challenge dominant frames and better understand stakeholders during the shift towards de-escalation based on analyzing political cartoons about high-profile troubled public sector projects in New Zealand and Denmark. Drawing on the theories of technological frames of reference, legitimacy, and stakeholder salience, we show how cartoonists expose and critique the normative framing of dysfunctionality to act as field-level evaluators of legitimacy. Through counter-framing, exaggeration, and metaphor, they emphasize the urgency of citizen users’ claims while undermining the legitimacy of powerful stakeholders. We extract lessons for stakeholder management and communication during project turnaround and suggest that satire could be a valuable addition to diagnostic and planning tools during de-escalation. We identify that sensitivity to framing of IT projects exists in the public realm, which reinforces calls for organizations to consider institutional framing.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jocelyn Cranefield ◽  
G Oliver ◽  
J Pries-Heje

© 2018 by the Association for Information Systems. Despite significant research into why IT projects fail, the frequency and impact of failure remains high. Attention has shifted to understanding and guiding de-escalation (i.e., reversing failure). This major turnaround process initially benefits from negative feedback on the status quo and requires an organization to break its established frames and re-establish its legitimacy with stakeholders (Pan & Pan, 2011). We consider the role of satire as a lens to challenge dominant frames and better understand stakeholders during the shift towards de-escalation based on analyzing political cartoons about high-profile troubled public sector projects in New Zealand and Denmark. Drawing on the theories of technological frames of reference, legitimacy, and stakeholder salience, we show how cartoonists expose and critique the normative framing of dysfunctionality to act as field-level evaluators of legitimacy. Through counter-framing, exaggeration, and metaphor, they emphasize the urgency of citizen users’ claims while undermining the legitimacy of powerful stakeholders. We extract lessons for stakeholder management and communication during project turnaround and suggest that satire could be a valuable addition to diagnostic and planning tools during de-escalation. We identify that sensitivity to framing of IT projects exists in the public realm, which reinforces calls for organizations to consider institutional framing.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maizatul Akmar Khalid ◽  
Md. Mahmudul Alam ◽  
Jamaliah Said

To improve the trust of citizens and delivery of services, employing good governance principles in the public sector is very crucial. Despite efforts to improve service delivery, criticisms and complains toward public services remain evident. This study aims to assess the status of good governance practices in the public sector of Malaysia. Primary data were collected from the responses of 109 department heads under 24 federal ministries to a survey questionnaire. Respondent perception of good governance practices was measured using a seven-point Likert scale and analyzed by descriptive statistics and path measurement modeling. Standard diagnostic tests were also conducted to check the reliability of the data and model. Results indicated that nine factors were significant in the measurement of good governance practices. However, very few people in the public sector of Malaysia practice fraud control, which is at the lowest intensity. Among the service groups, the engineer group practiced good governance at the highest level, whereas the health service group practiced good governance at the lowest level. Therefore, still there are scopes available to improve good governance systems to become more reliable and efficient public sector in Malaysia. Findings of the study will help policy makers improve the efficiency of the public sector of Malaysia and other countries.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamaliah Said ◽  
Md. Mahmudul Alam ◽  
Mohamad Azizal bin Abd Aziz

As the recent Auditor General‟s report discovered some corruptions, weakness, and lack of control in asset management in the public sector of Malaysia, this study is an attempt to assess the status of current practices of accountability in public sector of Malaysia. This study collected primary data based on a set of questionnaire survey that was distributed by email using the Google Doc application among the head of department of 682 departments and agencies under 24 federal ministries including the Prime Minister Department in Malaysia. Finally, based on the email responses, the final sample of the study is 109 respondents. The data were collected based on the opinion about ten factors of accountability practices in the department or agency by using seven-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The data are analysed under descriptive statistics and factor analysis. Further, the reliability of the data is tested by using Cronbach alpha test, and the validity of data is tested by checking the normality of data through Shapiro Wilk test and graphically. Overall, 87.3% of the respondents mentioned that overall they practice accountability in their department. However, the priority of these ten factors of accountability differs among the services schemes. The accountability in the administrative & diplomatic, education, and medical & health is below the overall average accountability. The accountability in the financial and information system schemes is also not strong enough. Therefore the public sector in Malaysia needs to be transformed into becoming a reliable and efficient sector by ensuring proper accountability and its proper assessment system.


Author(s):  
Lisa Catherine Ehrich ◽  
Neil Cranston ◽  
Megan Kimber

ABSTRACTControversies surrounding the behaviour of ministers and high profile leaders seem to be commonplace in public life. That there has been a resurgence of interest in the study of ethics is not surprising. The spotlight on ethics in the public domain has been due in part to the crisis in confidence about government and a lack of public trust in organisations. Furthermore, a complex organisational environment where managers are being required to juggle a ‘multitude of competing obligations and interests’ (Cooper 1998, p. 244) has provided fertile ground for the emergence of ethical dilemmas. In this paper we put forward a tentative model that reveals important inputs that bear upon an individual, such as a public sector manager, who is confronted with an ethical dilemma. In the final part of the paper we illustrate the model's efficacy with an ethical dilemma described by a retired senior public servant to determine whether the model works in practice.


Author(s):  
Hanne Kristine Angelshaug

The title “interpreter” is not a professional title in Norway; Norwegian legislation only applies to “sworn interpreters” authorized by the Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDi). The interpreter authorization scheme is one of the steps that have been taken to guarantee the quality of the interpreters and their services. Another step has been the creation of the National Register of Interpreters, which provides the public with access to qualified interpreters. However, the register is not flawless and may exclude well-qualified interpreters. The register has five qualification categories with different sets of requirements; the only problem is that the interpreter’s access to the different courses that enables the interpreter to enter the register is limited. This problem could be remedied easily by means of the official exams for the grant of the title ”sworn interpreter”, but regretfully the exams, as well as the necessary courses to advance from category to category in the register, are not available in all language combinations or on a frequent basis. The distinction between an “interpreter” and a “sworn interpreter” may not be the quality, as much as the professional title and having access to education. In this context, the importance of licensing or professionalization linked to the phenomenon of trust becomes evident. The foreign and native speaker have to communicate through an interpreter, they need to trust the interpreter in order to get their message through, but why anyone should do that without a guarantee that the interpreter is qualified is another question. Mainly non-professional interpreters perform interpretation in the public sector and several studies show that the interpreters lack linguistic and professional skills to do their job satisfactory. This problem should not be ignored, but rather properly addressed by establishing a professional graduate degree to ensure the quality of the interpreter and consolidate the status of the interpreter as a professional in the public sector in Norway. However, this is only one side of the problem, it is also necessary to promote and ensure the use of qualified labour in the public sector.


2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAN SCHNELLENBACH

Abstract:Public entrepreneurship is commonly understood as the outcome of the activities of a Schumpeterian political innovator. However, empirical research suggests that changes to a more efficient economic policy, even if it is known and technically easy to implement, are usually delayed. This is difficult to reconcile with Schumpeterian notions of public entrepreneurship. In this paper, it is argued that the attempt to transfer a Schumpeterian approach to the public sector is fundamentally flawed. Institutional checks and balances that characterize most modern liberal democracies make the strategy of bold leadership an unlikely choice for an incumbent. If change occurs, it occurs normally as a response to the fact that the status quo has become untenable. From a normative point of view, it is argued that if public entrepreneurship nevertheless occurs, it will often be associated with unwanted consequences. A dismantling of formal institutional checks and balances is therefore not reasonable.


2021 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 05006
Author(s):  
Frank Febiri ◽  
Miloslav Hub

Research background: The digitalization of the global economy is the most common phenomenon in the 21st century. Most Public sector organizations have already started their journeys towards digitalization, and many of them have dealt with their contemporary challenges with success. At the center of these transformations are metrics and indicators used for evaluating digital progress. Already existing measures focus on numerical measures of the presence of digital technology in the public sector (output measures), but do not evaluate the quality of the digitalized public sector (outcome measures). Purpose of the article: This paper attempts to evaluate metrics and indicators used for measuring the digital progress in the public sector. Methods: Three particular aspects of digitalization in the top five leading countries (Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, and Malta) were examined: I. success rate of public sector IT projects (measured by how often projects are scrapped); II. The price comparability between the public sector and private sector IT projects; and III. The relative modernity of government IT systems (compared to private sector systems). Findings & Value added: The findings of this paper present key metrics and indicators that can be used to evaluate public sector digital progress. Policymakers will need to redefine digitalization goals and areas of investments, while researchers can contribute more insights to the individual impact of these metrics and indicators on the development of a digital public sector. To this end, the paper contributes to a better understanding of the essential metrics and indicators to measure digitalization progress in the public sector.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-44
Author(s):  
Anna Margrét Jóhannesdóttir ◽  
Stina Nielsson Kristiansson ◽  
Niina Sipiläinen ◽  
Riikka Koivunen

The subject of this paper is a comparative study about the current status of internal audit within the public sector in the Nordic countries. The aim is to understand the basis and recognize trends in the development of internal audit in the public sector in these countries. The status of internal audit within each country, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, is presented and also the regulatory basis, laws and regulations, for internal audit and the main challenges that internal auditing faces. Finally, the opportunities for further development of internal audit in the public sector are addressed. The International Standards for Internal Auditing are well recognized and in use in all the countries. There are differences between these countries in their approach of the regulatory framework for internal audit and the arrangement of the operation of internal audit units. Therefore, further development of internal auditing should be pursued in cooperation and to harmonize the regulatory bases in these countries and to learn from each other when implementing internal audit in the public sector.


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